Note 21 — Chapter V · AN ALTERNATIVE VIEW OF THE NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRIES

For the sake of completeness we may mention that connectivity can be studied by the same procedure as that by which dimensionality was investigated. Thus, a space was considered to be two-dimensional when it was possible to intercept the path of continuous transfer between any two points by tracing a continuous line throughout the space. If we apply this test to the surface of a doughnut, it will be seen that a continuous line, such as a circumference enclosing part of the doughnut, like a ring, would be insufficient to divide the doughnut into two separate parts which could not be connected by a route of continuous transfer over the surface. This property would differentiate the surface of a doughnut from that of a sphere or an ellipsoid, and yet the surface of the doughnut would still be two-dimensional, but its connectivity would be different owing to the hole passing through its substance.